8 years ago - 35-year-old Richard & Dick Grayson free Ben Turner from the control of the League of Assassins. At Dick's urging, he ​begins training the recently-crippled Barbara Gordon, helping her overcome her insecurities about her handicap.

While Lady Shiva is widely recognized as the single greatest martial artist in the world of DC, she was actually originally conceived as a supporting character to Richard Dragon, who was invented in the pages of Dragon's Fists, a 1974 novel by comic legend Denny O'Neil, who would adapt his creation (Along with his sidekick, Ben Turner) in the comic Richard Dragon, Kung Fu Fighter.

Everything about this story seems cool in a very seventies way, but it's really hard to ignore the inherent cultural appropriation and white exceptionalism at play here. His origins actually have to bend over backward to explain why he's white at all, and it winds up being pretty ridiculous. This character could just as easily be Asian.

All that aside, there is a TON of fun stuff to play with here. His early adventures as a covert operative alongside Ben Turner, and then his recurring role as one of the most elite instructors of martial artists in the world. He offers a fantastic counterpoint to the violence of Lady Shiva, and having him as a teacher is a great way to give characters the ability to access martial arts abilities without making that the entire focus of the character. Chuck Dixon revamped the character in a short-lived series, and of course the New 52 created a completely incorrect version of him... but once you get past the racial undertones of his original appearances, We love the idea of a ex-covert operative martial artist roaming the earth, helping to teach enlightenment to a new generation of heroes.